Westward Expansion

The West “The West” was

anywhere between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean-That was the Western Frontier

Because it was hard to farm in the Great Plains, the land was used for Transportation

The Northwest had fertile lands

The West The Southwest was

owned by Mexico, and was part of the Spanish Borderlands. People in these areas

were only allowed to trade with Spain

This area has a distinct culture

The West Spanish missionaries like Junipero Serro tried to turn Native Americans into Catholics

Natives were forced to live and work at missions, may died from overwork or disease

Buildings were and are still made with a similar look

The West In 1821, Mexico won

their independence from Spain

Mexico made land grants to rancheros and removed missionaries

Because the land given often belonged to the Natives, the Indians raided ranches

The West America had been interested in Westward

Expansion They began to believe in Manifest Destiny, which

was the idea that the country should go from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Manifest Destiny cont…..Definition:

the belief that the United States was destined to stretch across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Why move???? Push Factors:

A force which acts to drive (push) people away from a place.

*Pull Factors:Draws (pulls) a person to a new location.

Push/Pull Factors With someone sitting close to you, make a T-Chart and categorize the events into push factors and pull factors.

Shortage of Jobs Better Living Shortage of farm land Over Crowding Opportunity to buy cheap land Gold Rush

Push Factors

Pull Factors

1.Shortage of jobs

2. Shortage of farmland

3.Overcrowding

1. Better Living

2. Cheap Land

3. Gold Rush

Trails to the West There were many trails to the west.

Santa Fe Trail: From St. Louis to Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Oregon Trail: From St. Louis to Portland, Oregon

Trails to the West John Jacob Astor

established the American Fur Company in 1808 in Oregon after he traveled there

He used information the Lewis and Clark created

Trails to the West The first people to build permanent homes in Oregon were missionaries

Marcus and Narcissa Whitman tried to help the natives, but in reality land was simply stolen from the natives.

When people heard there was good land, more settlers came

This started “Oregon Fever”

Trails to the West Mountain men became famous.

They led isolated lives in the bitter cold, intense heat animal attacks

Trappers would bring their furs to a rendezvous where the mountain men would come together and bargain for the prices of furs

Trails to the West Working with

only hand tools, people had to clear land, plant crops and build shelters

Diseases, accidents and natural disasters were common.

Some settlers even gave up and returned east

Trails to the West Women worked

with men to make their family farms successful

Women also fought for the right to vote

In 1869, the Wyoming territory was the first that let women vote

Trails to the West Natives had an

uneasy peace with the whites

After gold was discovered in Oregon in 1850, white and Chinese miners came into the area

War broke out with the Natives

A Rush to the West In 1848, James Marshall found a gold

nugget in a ditch in California (Sutter’s Mill)

80,000 “forty-niners’ ran to California to search for gold

There was both gold above ground and below ground and it the water

A Rush to the West People were fighting over water rights

because the gold would move with the water Because of the people moving west, towns

sprang up There were vigilantes in these towns

The women who went to California mined, ran and worked in boarding houses, hotels, restaurants, laundries and stores

There was gold found in Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada

All different types of people went to California People from Europe, Asia, Australia and South

America

A Rush to the West Men from China came to America in hopes that

they could send home moneyThey faced prejudice

They could not get jobs in mines, they had to cook or do laundry, work on railroads or farms

Thousands of free African Americans moved to California

They had their own churches, and news papers They ran their own businesses But they did not have equal rights

Natives had their lands stolen Nearly 2/3 of the Natives that lived in California

died during the Gold rush